Serco Group plc is a British outsourcing company based in Hook, Hampshire.[3] It operates public and private transport and traffic control, aviation, military weapons, detention centres, prisons and schools on behalf of its customers.

Serco was founded in 1929 as RCA Services Limited, a United Kingdom division of the Radio Corporation of America and initially provided services to the cinema industry.[4] It changed its name to Serco in 1987 and has been a London Stock Exchange listed company since 1988.[4]

In November 2014 its share price, which stood at 674p before the taxpayer scandal broke in 2013 collapsed to 218.7p, after four profit warnings. The new chief executive Rupert Soames sold off "scores of divisions". He said the company was suffering from ministers’ improved ability at driving a bargain, and claimed that “the Government has got much more adept at writing contracts and transferring risk to the private sector”.[6] On 17th November 2014, it was announced that Alastair Lyons would resign from his position as chairman of Serco.[7] Lyons referred to “operational mis-steps” for which he took “ultimate responsibility”, but said he had not been forced out.[8]

Serco, as well as its rival G4S, was accused of overcharging the Ministry of Justice on its contract to tag offenders. The firm issued a profit warning for 2014 as a result of the costs of becoming embroiled in an electronic tagging scandal. Serco repaid £68.5 million to the government for its overcharging on the contract.[9] In May 2014 a Survation poll for campaign group We Own It, found that 63% of respondents thought Serco should be banned from bidding for any new public contracts after the firm was investigated for overcharging on government contracts.[10] We Own It held a protest outside the company's annual general meeting on 8 May called "Sick of Serco". The group brought sick bags and proposed a Public Service Users Bill that would provide better, more transparently run services.

Serco operates the National Border Targeting Centre for UK Visas and Immigration and provides the carrier gateway—the interface between carriers and the agency.[11]

In September 2013, Serco was accused of extensive sexual abuse coverups of immigrants at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre prison in Bedfordshire, England [26] In August 2014, Serco was criticised for using immigrant detainees as cheap labour, with some being paid as little as £1 per hour.[27] The decision to give the firm a new £70 million eight-year contract to run Yarl's Wood has been criticised. Natasha Walter, of Women for Refugee Women, said "Serco is clearly unfit to manage a centre where vulnerable women are held and it is unacceptable the government continues to entrust Serco with the safety of women who are survivors of sexual violence."[28]

Serco provides air traffic control services at international airports in the United Arab Emirates[37] and at some smaller airports in the United States and Canada.[38][39] Starting in 2004 Serco had a £5m a year contract from the US government to manage airports in Iraq for 18 months.[40] Serco also operate Scatsta Airport on Shetland.[41] In June 2010 Serco signed a £4 million contract to operate all air traffic control services for Coventry Airport.[42]

The company had the contract for out-of-hours GP services in Cornwall from which it withdrew in December 2013 after the company left the county short of doctors. The company also said it would stop running Braintree hospital in Essex as it pulled out of managing GP services and large hospitals.[47]

In health services, Serco's difficulties include the poor handling of pathology labs and fatal errors in patient records. At St Thomas' Hospital, the increase in the number of clinical incidents arising from Serco non-clinical management has resulted in patients receiving incorrect and infected blood, as well as patients suffering kidney damage due to Serco providing incorrect data used for medical calculations.[48] A Serco employee later revealed that the company had falsified 252 reports to the National Health Service regarding Serco health services in Cornwall.[49]

It emerged in November 2013, Serco, which won a contract for Suffolk Community Healthcare in 2012, had 72 vacancies after earlier cutting 137 posts. Problems identified by Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group include “staff capacity, skill mix, workload, succession planning and morale, training, communication, mobile working, care co-ordination centre processes, incidents and near miss incidents”.[50]

In April 2014 Serco revealed that it would lose almost £18 million on three of its NHS contracts. The firm has made provisions for losses in its Braintree and Cornwall contracts, which were cancelled early. It has also made provisions for losses in its contract for services in Suffolk. The company claims it will take longer to deliver the operational efficiencies it hoped for, despite saying in May 2013 that it expected to make a profit on the three-year, £140 million contract for community services.[51]

In August 2014 it was reported that the company had decided to withdraw from the clinical health services market in the UK after a review of the cost of delivering “improved service levels” and meeting the performance requirements of several existing contracts.[52]

Serco held a ten-year contract with Bradford City Council between 2001 and 2011 to manage and operate the local education authority,[53] providing education support services to the City's schools. This period was marked with "real problems" according to senior council officials and was taken back in house by the local authority after this period.[54] Serco similarly manages and operates Walsall[55] and Stoke-on-Trent local education authorities.[56] Serco is one of Ofsted's three Regional Inspection Service Providers, responsible for school inspections in the English Midlands.[57]

Serco, through a purpose-made division Serco DES, holds a ten-year, $114 million contract with the Province of Ontario to operate the province's DriveTest driver examination centres. These tests include vision, road, and knowledge tests for all persons seeking to become a licensed automobile driver in the province.[38]

The Union of Christmas Island Workers highlighted the systemic failure by Serco to manage the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre. The centre detains a large number of refugees including 1,000 children.[69] Under Serco, there has been an increase of deaths in custody, self-harm, and of Serco staff beating prisoners. As well, there has been a deterioration of facilities leading to the decline of the physical and the mental health of detainees and of staff. OmbudsmanAllan Asher said on the Australian radio show AM, "In the first week of June when I visited Christmas Island, more than 30 incidents of self-harm by detainees held there were reported".[69] Serco, in a staged memo leaked to The Australian, blamed the detainees for "creating a culture of self-harm", in order to use it as a "bargaining tool".[69] The former manager of the Serco run detention centre stated the centre was grossly understaffed whereby it was "typically 15 staff members short every day".[69]

In Auckland, New Zealand, Serco runs the Mount Eden Prison remand prison[70] and in March 2012 was awarded the contract to build and operate a 960-bed prison at Wiri.[71] Serco was heavily criticized for the existence of 'fight clubs' within Mt Eden prison that were not investigated until after they became public knowledge. However, on 24 July 2015, Serco was revoked the right of running the prison and Mt Eden prison was given back to the New Zealand Department of Corrections to run.[72]